Roger Goodell

Many people were shocked by the bombshell report by ESPN rocked the football world Tuesday as it was confirmed that Spygate was indeed much larger than what National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell told the media, U.S. Senator Arlen Spector and other NFL owners. So, here is a look from a public relations perspective.

NFL owners support for Goodell has been eroding since Spygate and definitely took a hit when U.S. Federal Judge Richard Berman ruled against the NFL in regards to the suspension for New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The problem is that Goodell’s contract is through March 2019. So, it will be very costly to replace Goodell, which means that the two will have to find some way to coexist for the time being.

As for Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, he was a coach that was renowned for his defenses, but now will be known as the greatest cheater in all of professional sports and will most unlikely get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Things will get tricky when it comes to Brady. The selection committee for the Hall of Fame will be debating this question for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, because Brady has performed great after Spygate broke.

So, is Brady worthy of the Hall of Fame?

It’s pretty clear that the Patriots won the three Super Bowls from 2000-2008 by cheating. All one has to look is at the three Super Bowls since. In three games they lost twice to the New York Giants and should have lost a third as we all know.

When it comes to statistics one could make a case for him. After Spygate Brady has thrown for 4,000 yards five times where before he only had two and secondly threw more than 30 touchdowns four times where before he only did once.

The biggest question of all is would Brady be Brady if he was on any other team?

There is a good possibility that Brady would be a starter for another team, but there’s serious doubt about that. Brady got a clear advantage as a starter in his second year as Belichick was able to minimize some of his mistakes by knowing what the defense was going to do. What I mean by that is if the Patriots didn’t know what the defense was doing, there is a good that Brady could have made some key mistakes in his first year as a starter that could have changed the course of it dramatically.

As for Specter, his instincts proved to be correct. Spygate was much bigger than what anyone was led to believe, but will congress call for a congressional inquiry?

There is a good chance this could happen. We are in the middle of Presidential nomination cycle and so far billionaire businessman Donald Trump is in front of his fellow republicans. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if one of them jump on this piece of news.

In the end, until Belichick fesses up publicly to what type of cheating he has engaged in, this will be an ongoing issue for a long time.

Many Buffalo Bills fans are wondering what the team will do with Marcell Dareus since he was arrested for a second time this offseason. The fact of the matter is the only real option that the team has is helping Dareus like head coach Doug Marrone said last week.

What people are forgetting is that both arrests were outside of the work place. So, if he is going to be suspended for what he did it will have to come from National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell under the Personal Conduct Policy. So, what are the team’s options?

The only options the team has with Dareus is trade him, cut him, bench him or try to help him.

The reality is that none of them make any sense except for the last. Trading him will get you only a late round draft pick, cutting him gets you nothing in return and benching him after going to the Pro Bowl last year is ridiculous.

The fact of the matter is that a player can only get suspended by a team for something that happens while at the team’s facilities. He’s then is an employee of the team and they are responsible for his actions while there. Only then can he be suspended by the team.

A good example of this is what happened last season when Dareus was benched twice last season by Marrone. The first was for a quarter and then a half the following week for being late to team meetings.

In that instance he is an employee of the Bills as one of his job functions is to attend meeting that is part of preparing for Sunday’s game.

In the end, all we can do is hope that Dareus gets that the decisions he makes can cost him or someone he loves life.